Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5)(71)

I couldn’t hide my snort. Ramsey would never take it easy. This ranch and the horses on it meant too much to him.

Ramsey raised a brow as he stalked towards me. “You laughing at me?”

My gaze zeroed in on the sponge in his hand. “Ramsey…”

There was a devilish twinkle in his eyes that had me backing towards the open barn doors. “You wouldn’t dare.”

His lips twitched. “I wouldn’t?”

I let out a shriek as he lunged. I dodged the first attempt to fling water at me, but then Ramsey caught me around the waist and squeezed the sponge over my head. The sound that escaped me was enough to send Kai running. He barked and yipped, wanting in on the fun.

“I got him for you,” Aidan called.

I pinched Ramsey’s side, and he released me with a muttered curse.

“Now!” I yelled.

Aidan aimed the spray nozzle straight at Ramsey and let it fly. Ramsey was soaked in a matter of seconds.

Elliott let out a howl of laughter, dancing through the stream of water with Kai. Ramsey wiped off his face, spluttering. I covered my mouth to try to hold in my own laughter.

Ramsey pointed the sponge at me and then Aidan. “Payback’s coming.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I’d like to see you try.”

He moved so fast he was only a blur in my vision. Ramsey hauled me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I squirmed, and he smacked my butt with a light tap. “Aidan, you spray her now, and I won’t get you later.”

“Get her, A!” Elliott shouted.

“Hey!” I cried. “Don’t go traitor on me.”

Aidan grimaced. “Sorry, Shiloh. I don’t like getting wet.”

The water hit me in a shock of cold, and I screeched in Ramsey’s ear as he laughed full out. It was such a beautiful sound I didn’t even mind the ice bath. I twisted and writhed until Aidan halted the spray.

Ramsey slowly lowered me to my feet, and each inch of friction sent a shiver through me that had nothing to do with the freezing water. Our eyes locked and held, and Ramsey brushed the hair out of my face. Closing the rest of the distance, he brushed his lips against mine. “A little ice bath looks good on you.”

I shivered as I ran a hand through his hair. “You don’t look half-bad yourself.”

Kai barked, and I forced myself out of the hold Ramsey had on me. Elliott stared up at us, looking thoughtful. “She your girlfriend?” he asked.

Ramsey tugged me against his side. “She’s more than that, but I guess girlfriend works.”

Warmth spread through me at the claiming. I’d never wanted to belong to someone until this moment. The belonging didn’t take away any freedom; it only gave me more.

Elliott frowned.

“You don’t like that?” Ramsey asked.

“Well, I was gonna ask her to be my girlfriend. You kinda put a crimp in my plans.”

I choked on a laugh. Elliott sounded so much the little man. I grinned at him. “I bet Ramsey will still let us go on dates occasionally.”

He brightened. “Really?”

Ramsey kissed my temple. “I think I can make it work. But first, I think we need to put the horses away. Then it’s dry clothes and some hot chocolate.”

I kissed the underside of his jaw. “Sounds like the perfect plan.”





I moved from what the website called cobra pose into downward dog and breathed deeply. Yoga was supposed to clear my head, but it certainly wasn’t doing the trick today. The article hadn’t been on the front page or anything—it had been on the fifth, somewhere between a play-by-play of the high school baseball team’s game and the list of community meetings. But for me, it might as well have been a billboard outlined in neon lights.

It had only been a handful of paragraphs, but the reporter had made sure to recount my kidnapping, Howard Kemper’s arrest, and the trial. The subtext was something along the lines of: Poor girl can’t catch a break. Then they dove into the restraining orders against Kenny and Ian.

Hayes had put them both in place, but it would be a couple of weeks before I had to go in front of a judge in the quest for something more permanent. In the meantime, they’d dredge up everything they could.

Just the thought of it had me feeling twitchy as if even on the safety of the ranch, in my precious cabin, eyes might be on me—ones that wanted to know everything they didn’t have a right to know.

I pushed deeper into downward dog, feeling the burn of the stretch in my legs and back. I relished that bite. Chased it.

The front door opened. “Hey, Shiloh—” Ramsey’s words cut off, and he stopped mid-step. “What are you doing?”

“Yoga,” I said as I moved into warrior two.

Kai lifted his head at Ramsey’s presence but didn’t make a move to leave his bed.

Ramsey moved in closer. I could feel his eyes on me, heating each place they touched. “I didn’t know you did yoga.”

“I don’t—or didn’t,” I gritted out. “But Hadley said it’s good for clearing your head.”

He studied me for a moment. “Not today, though?”

“Too crowded.” I’d take Sky out later and go for a good run. That usually helped.

Ramsey brushed his lips against my bare shoulder. “I’m sorry about the reporter.”